Presidential campaigning and promoting healthy behaviors: What do they have in common?

FHI 360’s Alive & Thrive (A&T) project works to improve infant and young child nutrition in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Vietnam by promoting behaviors such as exclusive breastfeeding and improved complementary feeding. Reflecting on President Obama’s inauguration, we found that running a presidential campaign and promoting healthy behaviors might have some things in common.

Being precise about which behavior you need to promote

Obama’s door-to-door canvassing effort during the recent presidential campaign was said to have a clear behavioral objective: Make sure that likely Democrat voters go to the polls and vote. Rather than knocking on all doors to persuade undecided voters to support Obama, canvassers contacted people who had already indicated they were pro-Obama.

In an A&T TV spot in Vietnam, a “talking” baby shares the precise behavior that results in exclusive breastfeeding.

We use a similar strategy to promote exclusive breastfeeding. In Vietnam, most mothers said they already knew that breastfeeding is the best feeding method. However, it didn’t occur to many mothers that when they give their babies water, those infants do not receive the benefit of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months, as recommended by the World Health Organization. To increase the percentage of mothers practicing exclusive breastfeeding, one of our TV spots focuses on the specific behavior, “don’t give the baby water.”

Making it feel easy to adopt the behavior

Obama’s strategists reportedly believed that people are more likely to act when the action seems easy to do. Some U.S. states passed new regulations requiring people to show valid photo identification (ID) in order to vote, leaving many people confused or fearful about voting. When campaign volunteers in the state of Virginia were educated on which types of IDs were acceptable, they were advised to avoid complicated discussions of what is and isn’t a valid ID. Instead, they were told to simply get out the message, “It’s EASY to vote in Virginia.”

A TV spot from A&T’s handwashing campaign in Bangladesh reminds mothers to keep soap and water near the child’s feeding place.

Similarly, in Bangladesh, A&T focused on making it seem easy for mothers to adopt an essential behavior: washing their hands before preparing food or feeding a baby. Studies in Bangladesh showed that a major reason busy mothers found it hard to wash their hands before handling a baby’s food was that there was no soap and water nearby. We found that mothers were much more likely to wash their hands the right way and at the right time if soap and water were readily available. The project’s handwashing campaign, based on our behavioral trials and other formative research, encouraged families to keep a handwashing station with soap and water near the child’s feeding place.

Asking people to make a plan for how they will adopt the behavior

By analyzing data from previous elections, Obama’s strategists were reported to have seen that people who made a specific plan to get to the polls on Election Day were more likely to vote. During face-to-face or phone conversations, campaign workers asked potential voters, “What time of day do you plan to vote?” Campaign documents estimated that helping people pin down a personal plan could increase voting by 4 percentage points, and in a close race, that can make the difference.

The same strategy is being used to encourage mothers to breastfeed within the first hour of life. A&T staff helped the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA) — which delivers vital health information to pregnant women and new mothers through text messages on their mobile phones — refine its messages. For example, the original version of a message sent to women in their 19th week of pregnancy simply advised early initiation of breastfeeding. A&T advisors suggested asking mothers to make a personal plan for starting breastfeeding. Now the message reads, “Make a plan with your family to put your new baby to the breast in the first hour. The creamy first milk will help protect him from illness.”

Just as political campaigns are applying practical findings from behavioral science, more programs that strive to help people adopt better health behaviors are doing the same, whether through face-to-face counseling, mass media or text messages and other technology.

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